Tax cut for most in city budget

The city of Montreal's second version of the 2006 budget is out, and it offers good news.

The city released a budget in December, but then cancelled it amid complaints that Mayor Grald Tremblay had broken his election promises.

• FROM DEC. 8, 2005: Promise broken: city taxes to climb

The budget is $3.85 billion, which is up about 4 per cent from last year's.

However, the city is doing it without collecting more taxes from most slightly more than half of homeowners will pay less in municipal taxes.

Although some people will pay more because their valuations are up, the total budget is still frozen at the 2005 level.

Cuts in service

So in order to keep his promises, Tremblay says the city is cutting back on a few expenses.

Administration at city hall will be cut, saving the city about $1.2 million.

The plan to have Montreal police patrol the metro system has been put on hold temporarily, in an effort to save cash. The new deadline for that will be the end of 2007.

Second time around

In December, the Tremblay administration cancelled the municipal budget it brought out just a week before.

Tremblay had been under severe criticism for breaking an election promise not to raise taxes.

• FROM DEC. 12, 2005: Tremblay cancels budget after breaking promise

During the election campaign before the Nov. 6 vote, Tremblay promised not to raise taxes.

"Without wanting to, I undermined the link of confidence I had established with Montrealers. I regret this sincerely," he told reporters after he canned his budget.